Top Chefs Descend on Metropole’s Les Arômes Festival 2016

Top ChefsDescend on Metropole’s Les Arômes Festival 2016

Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi celebrates 10th food and wine festival

While the odd wine dinner and guest chef is a staple culinary development on any luxury hotel’s calendar, the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi no longer cares for staples.

This year, after launching one of Southeast Asia’s premier culinary events, the hotel is consolidating myriad dinners, chefs and workshops into one six-week spectacular, the 10th Les Arômes Festival 2016, from Oct. 10 – Nov. 23.

Seven celebrated chefs from Italy, France, Vietnam, Thailand and China are due to flex their culinary skills in five wine dinners and eight delectable events that will include live cooking demonstrations, bread making classes, wine and cheese pairings, chocolate tastings, and private dinners.

More than 100 Metropole staff are coordinating the event.

“The Metropole’s tenth Les Arômes Festival is going to be a culinary extravaganza, celebrating the end of the harvest and showcasing the very best that Hanoi has to offer in international cuisines and fine wines,” said Franck Lafourcade, the Metropole’s general manager.

Headlining this year’s event is Paolo Vitaletti, chef and owner of Italian trattoria, Appia, in Bangkok. Vitaletti, who has cooked for such famous faces as Angelina Jolie, Mick Jagger and Mark Zuckerberg, is set to host a number of lunches and dinners featuring authentic Roman-style dishes like handmade paccheri carbonara and cavatelli with lamb ragu at the Metropole’s Angelina fine-dining restaurant. In a tribute to gastronomy, some of Vitaletti’s signature dishes will become part of the permanent menu at the restaurant following the end of the festival.

Bread lovers can rejoice, as executive pastry chef and baker Christophe Grilo returns to the historic hotel for a bread, cheese and wine extravaganza on October 22. Meanwhile, master cheesemaker Gerard Poulard will introduce gourmands to a selection of more than 100 different varieties of cheeses at La Veranda while Chef Didier Corlou, owner of Verticale restaurant in Hanoi, will hold a lecture on Vietnamese spices and herbs on Nov. 3.

Foodies should not miss Chef Thitid “Ton” Tassanakajohn’s, owner of Le Du and BaaGaDin in Bangkok, modern reinterpretations of classic Thai dishes on Nov. 4 and 5. Chef Ton trained in two of the world’s three Michelin-starred restaurants including Eleven Madison Park and Jean-Georges in New York.

The Metropole has even designated a day for eating chocolate. Using only the finest chocolate made in Vietnam, ‘A Day of Chocolate’ on Nov. 5 will include a chocolate buffet, chocolate cooking class, chocolate infused cocktails at the newly revamped Le Club and a special chocolate dinner at Orangerie.

The festivities are set to continue throughout November with a number of wine events including a Burgundy tasting and intimate private dinner with French wine connoisseur Thibault Gagey, export director of Maison Louis Jadot, on Nov. 10.